CLEVELAND, Tenn. – If Bradley County expands its fire and rescue department and does not renew its contract with Cleveland, county fire tax rates would remain the same through 2017, officials said.
Those figures were part of a detailed spreadsheet that Mayor D. Gary Davis presented Wednesday to the County Finance Committee. The county already is pursuing a plan to expand its existing fire department.
“Gary Davis isn’t proposing anything,” the mayor cautioned. “I am merely explaining it.”
The county has paid the city for years to provide fire service in populated areas just outside the city limits. The contract now is $1.8 million a year. That contract ends in June 2013.
The fire tax rates are 33.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value in the rural areas served by the county fire department and 40.7 cents per $100 in the fringe areas that the city protects.
While there are many potential changes ahead, Davis said, the county plan calls for five fire stations in place by the contract’s end, with three yet to be built. The plan would add 36 employees, bringing the total to nearly 50, backed up by about 100 volunteers.
WHAT’S NEXTCleveland and Bradley County have scheduled a meeting to discuss the fire department issue Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Cleveland-Bradley Chamber of Commerce, 225 Keith St.
While tax rates would remain the same, Davis said some people may find themselves included in the future fringe areas when new county stations are built.
Letting the contract expire and expanding the county department is one of three options under discussion. The other options are a new contract or a merger of the two departments.
County Commissioner Howard Thompson said Monday that the county contract subsidizes the city’s general budget. But some commissioners said they want to see the numbers for all three options before voting in January.
Davis will present the same details Monday to the full County Commission and on Tuesday to the County Fire Board.
Contact staff writer Randall Higgins at rhiggins@timesfreepress.com or 423-314-1029.